The Barrier
by Hya-chan
Summary: Being in a new body isn't always easy. Especially when you can't speak the language or use your powers. Fox demons have it rough. I suck at summaries pls read and review.


This is my disclaimer. I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. Pls read and review. Would love to hear what you think.

"Come on mother we're going to be late." A teenager girl rushed down the steps of her grandmother's shrine pulling her shoes on hastily as she went. She had awoken to the sounds of her alarm but quickly beat the device into submission and went back to sleep. Now she was running late for her classes. "MOM COME ON!" Grabbing a brush from the bag she had grabbed upon exiting the girl began to force her brunette hair into a high ponytail. Stopping at the end of the stairs to glance back she realized that her mother was no where in sight. Sighing frustratedly the girl began her trek back up the steps shielding her sapphire eyes from the blazing sun. "WE'RE LATE. COME ON!" Waiting a few moments for a response and getting none the girl was about to yell up to the house again when a voice next to her startled her.

"Be quiet. You're the reason why you're late and I'll be taking you to the school now hurry up." She turned to look where the woman had been standing to find that she was now rushing down the steps. Sighing again, but this time with a smile, the girl followed the aging woman. Her pink hair looked dull in the morning light and her form appeared to be nothing more then that of an old lady, but the girl knew that she was so much more then that.

"Hey Grandma Genkai wait up!" She quickly hurried to catch up with the woman. Finally managing this she panted slightly from the effort but smiled brightly at her grandmother. "You know, you're fast for an old lady." The woman beside her glanced in her direction not really paying much attention.

"Looks can be deceiving." Boy did she know that. "Heather you're falling behind. If you don't hurry I'm leaving you." The girl, Heather, quickly sprinted to catch up. Smiling once again at her grandmother they walked in comfortable silence for a while. Heather had been contemplating the dream that she had. It was what had forced her to stay in her bed longer then she usually did. Untamed wildlife and beautiful landscape, waterfalls with hidden caves, secret entrances, that was what had been in her dreams. It all had seemed familiar and yet it wasn't. Heather thought back to what her grandmother had said. 'Looks can be deceiving boy she doesn't know the half of it.'

**'You can say that again.'** That was Aisha, the fox spirit that was and had always been a part of her. When she first realized there was another living with her she had been terrified. Aisha had explained to her that they weren't merely living together, that was only part of it. They were one in the same. In essence they were each other. This of course had given the girl a headache for the rest of the week as she tried to figure out exactly what being one meant. Once she stopped fretting and started feeling she understood. The fox demon was her. She had no idea how it had happened but she was never one to really question things. She accepted it wholeheartedly and began to use the powers bestode upon her. She had finally trained enough to use most of her attacks and other moves in human form. The only catch was it took more spirit energy in her human form then it did in the fox form. Well everything except her rose whip that is. A handy trick that she had learned from an old friend. She snickered to herself noticing that her grandmother was now giving her a funny look.

"What is it?"

"You're being unusually quiet."

"I've just got a lot on my mind." Heather smiled as they continued the rest of the way in silence. When they finally reached the school they parted ways. Heather walked briskly through the front doors. Thankfully the final bell had yet to ring. She'd hate to ruin her perfect skipping record. Taking her bag she made her way to the roof. Being a foreigner to Japan she tended to have a hard time sitting through the lectures that she couldn't understand. So she would do the work away from the teachers, turn it into them, and still make the grades that she wanted without the stares of the other students or falling asleep to a language that she barely understood. Slowly but surely she was learning but it wasn't enough.

**'I don't see how you can't understand it when it's a language that I speak fluently.'** The thought had never occurred to Heather but she shrugged it off. As a fox she could do anything, as herself she was pretty much useless.

'It doesn't make sense to me either but I need to get this finished or my statistics teacher will have a heart attack.'

**'So you haven't done the last three assignments. Big deal. I say that we ditch school and go get in some training.'**

'Ugh. You have to be kidding. I'm still sore from last night and my spirit energy was all but depleted. I'm sure that grandma is starting to suspect.' Heather thought back to when she first arrived four weeks ago. Her mother had left her father in a fit of rage taking her with her. Not sure where to go her mother had decided that it was time that they visit a member of the family that Heather had never met before. Her father's real mother Genkai. When they had reached the shrine night was falling and Heather was somewhat frightened of meeting the woman. Walking all the horrible steps up to the shrine had been a test in itself, after all they had been on a plane for fifteen hours straight. Finally making it to the door her mother knocked waiting patiently. An elderly woman answered the door and Heather knew instantly that it was her grandmother. Smiling down at the woman she was rather shocked that she smiled back ushering them inside. Once they had rested Heather had taken it upon herself to train out on the grounds. Not entering the forest or going anywhere that she thought her grandmother might get angry at her for the girl trained in the back of the shrine. After a couple of hours she was exhausted and reached for a towel when her grandmother's voice had stopped her movements.

Flashback

"Well I'm not surprised that you are slightly experienced in martial arts. I figured that your father would have taught you better though." Heather whirled around to face her grandmother.

"Father didn't teach me I taught myself." 'I didn't hear her. Heck I didn't even sense her walk up behind me. How long has she been here?'

"I see, that good for nothing son of mine didn't care to teach you anything. What a waste he was." With that she had turned to leave but Heather calling out to her made her pause and turn.

"Grandmother when did you get here? You weren't behind me that whole time were you?" Her grandmother just smiled knowingly before heading into the house.

End Flashback

Heather hadn't questioned her about it again and had waved not sensing her off to her lack of energy seeing as she had expended a lot of it during her training. Flipping open her statistics book she figured that it would be best if she began her work.

A boy with slicked back hair quietly crept from the classroom. It was his first day back to school after the last mission that the toddler had sent him on and it seemed more boring then normal. Treading the halls carefully, never really sure when Keiko would show, yell at him for skipping class then drag him back by his ear, Yusuke made his way to the roof. The only quiet place that he knew of in the school or so he thought. As he neared the door, muttering something about toddlers and their sadistic ways of talking him into things, he heard something from the other side. Pausing in his rant and forward motion he glanced out the window. There he saw a frustrated girl chewing on the eraser of her pencil and muttering about shoving a book somewhere that the teacher surely wouldn't appreciate it. He chuckled as her line of thought was about the same as his concerning some of his more...frustrating teachers. Opening the door he cleared his throat. The girl didn't even turn to look at him and he got the distinct impression that she was ignoring his presence.

"Hey there. This is my spot. Who said that you could come up here and disturb my peace?" The girl turned slightly to glare at him before returning her attention to her book. "Obviously you have no idea who I am. The name's Urameshi, Yusuke Urameshi." The girl turned to look at him once again, this time annoyed. After a minute she shrugged and went back to fretting over whatever it was that she had been working on when he had arrived. This only infuriated him.

Heather had ignored the energy that she had felt approaching her in favor of the homework that she had become frustrated with.

"I should take this book and shove it where the sun doesn't shine. He would totally deserve that for making me work twice as much as the other students."

**'What do you expect? You haven't really done anything in his class.'**

'Yet my grade is wonderful. Why do you think that is?' The person that she had felt finally made itself known. Hearing him speak she turned to glare at him knowing that whatever he was saying she didn't really care and turned her attention back to the book in hopes of understanding the problems. When he began to speak again she paid slight attention. All she had really caught of the sentence was that his name was Yusuke Urameshi. Well good for him. She had never seen him before and he was interrupting her school work time. She turned and gave him an annoyed look before shrugging and carrying on with her work. She felt his energy spike when he got mad. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up in warning but she ignored them in favor of her work. This must have upset him even more because his energy grew more violent. Distantly she noted that the bell had rung signaling that the first class had ended.

A girl with brunette hair took off to the place that she knew her boyfriend was. He had just gotten back and was already cutting class. As she approached the roof her anger grew. Just wait until she gave him a piece of her mind. Keiko Yukimura burst through the door to the roof spotting Yusuke first. Opening her mouth to lecture him she quickly closed it when she noticed the other person that occupied the roof. She was the new exchange student that had started attending the school several weeks ago. Keiko, being as well educated as she was, could speak with the girl in English seeing as she was having a hard time picking up Japanese. If she remembered correctly the girl's name was Heather. She had confessed to Keiko that she couldn't sit through the lectures and they had asked special permission for her to work on the school roof. That, of course, had taken place while Yusuke was away on a mission so it would make sense that he didn't know. This being his usual skipping place and all it was only natural that he would be upset at the girl for being here. Keiko smiled at Heather quickly going over to her.

"How are you this morning Heather?"

"I would be wonderful if this moron hadn't barged in, in the middle of my statistics homework, that I don't get by the way, and began spouting something in Japanese." Keiko pitied the girl. Glancing over her shoulder at Yusuke who had calmed slightly she moved to sit next to Heather.

"Don't worry about him." Turning her attention to the boy from her spot she glared at him. "Yusuke you should be attending your classes. You just got back after all and you'll never get a decent education sitting on this roof." Yusuke gave her a smug look.

"What about her huh? Why is she even up here anyway? Shouldn't she be in class?" The girl he was asking about had turned to look at him questioningly.

"She's from America and has yet to pick up on our language. She can't sit through class so we got special permission for her to work up here. Her name is Heather and I expect you to be polite to her." She turned her attention away from him and focused back on her new friend. "So what is it that you're having trouble with?"

Heather was amazed at how comfortable Keiko seemed to be switching from Japanese to English. She wished that she could be that comfortable soon. Obviously her friend knew the boy that had barged in on her. Shaking away her thoughts she turned to smile at Keiko. "Don't worry about it. You have your own class to attend." Keiko only shook her head.

"As long as I'm helping you they won't care." Heather shrugged and began telling Keiko what it was that she was having trouble with. The day passed rather quickly for the duo and finally lunch had arrived. Heather had finished the next five assignments for her class so she was set for at least the next week or so. Keiko had told her that if she needed help again all she had to do was ask. She had asked Heather if she would like for her and Yusuke to stay and have lunch with her. Heather had turned them down but said that she'd be happy to have lunch with them tomorrow. Exiting the roof Heather headed for her favorite tree in the front of the school. The first day of school she had been rather frightened even though Aya was there with her. The day had not gone well to begin with. The secretary that she had tried talking to didn't speak English even though she obviously understood it. She had tried talking to Heather in Japanese and when that didn't work she tried speaking slower which didn't make a bit of difference seeing as the poor girl didn't understand. Finally the woman wrote down on a sheet of paper what she was trying to tell her and sent that, her schedule, and her out of the office. Needless to say that the poor girl was terribly lost and it seemed that no one in the school either understood or spoke enough English to help her. She had glanced down at the paper in tears. If she couldn't speak or understand their language what made them think that she could read it? Finally she realized that she had been wandering the halls aimlessly for so long that it was lunch time. She knew this by the bentos that the students were pulling out of their bags. Leaving the school she was determined to head home when a tree off to her right caught her attention. It exuded an aura of sadness and utter loneliness. Being the fox spirit that she was nature was her friend and like anyone else she went to comfort it. She had told the tree of her troubles. Not in words but in feeling. The tree responded in turn. They had become fast friends. Of course she had always been close to nature anyway. The tree proceeded to tell her about a girl that would be able to help her. Thanking the tree she had gone in search of the girl. Finding her had been easier then she thought. Speaking in English to test the girl it had taken her a moment to respond but when she had, and in English no less, Heather had nearly hugged her. The rest of the day had gone by without a hitch.

Opening the school doors Heather crashed under the tree with her lunch. A few days ago she had found that she could communicate telepathically with plants and other such creatures. This had excited her. No longer would she be stuck communing with nature through merely emotion. Leaning against the bark Heather smiled up at it.

'Well hello there today. How have you been since I last saw you?' She could feel how stunned the tree was. Chuckling softly she patted the bark. 'What's wrong? You usually have so much to talk about.'

_**'I was not aware that you could communicate with me in such a manner.'**_

'Trust me, you're not the only one. I found out over the weekend when I accidently sat on a flower and it shrieked in pain. Let me tell you that wasn't a very pleasant experience. I ended up lending it some of my energy so that it could right itself and live longer as an apology.'

_**'Have you been better since the first day you came to this place?'**_

'Yes thanks to you. I've made a friend in Keiko who I can speak freely with and not wonder if she caught the entire conversation. There's a boy, though, that's already starting to get on my nerves.'

_**'Who might this young man be?'**_

'He goes by the name of Yusuke Urameshi and unlike Keiko he's neither friendly nor does he seem able to speak the English language.' The tree chuckled.

_**'I know of the one you speak. He is rough around the edges but not such a bad egg once you get to know him. He and Keiko are an item as you call it now a days.' **_She giggled at the tree's choice of words. Munching her lunch she gazed up into the branches.

'I don't see what she sees in him. Oh what I wouldn't give to sit in your branches. This lunch would taste much better.' She gazed down at her mostly burnt lunch. Heather had made it herself in a hurry this morning because her mother hadn't awoken to do it. Sadly the girl had no cooking skills and burned water. So here she sat with a less than appetizing lunch. Poking at the rice she watched the leaves cast shadows on the ground. A slight breeze came dancing by rustling the once peaceful branches.

_**'That reminds me. There was a young demon here a little while ago. He had made a perch on my branches and kept glancing in windows as though looking for someone.'**_ Heather choked on her food before managing to swallow it correctly, eyes watering from the effort.

'Do you know who he was looking for? It wasn't me was it?'

_**'Alas, I know not. However, whoever he came here in search of he meant no harm. So you need not worry my little vixen. I shall keep you safe.' **_She smiled back at the tree then. No one had referred to her in such a manner since before she had died. It was wonderful to know that she had a few friends in this strange land. Hearing the bell she decided that it would be best to return to the roof.

'Until next time, my friend.' Not waiting for a reply she quickly headed back to the roof to switch subjects and finish the rest of her homework. Two periods later she was done and enjoying the wonderful weather. She had been slightly surprised that Yusuke hadn't made another appearance but figured that Keiko had seen to it that he didn't skip again that day. Smiling to herself Heather settled against a wall relaxing. The sound of footsteps heading her way, that she wouldn't have heard if she wasn't a demon, made her tense slightly. Scanning the aura she realized that her hopes to relax had been shattered by Yusuke returning to the roof. He opened the door and looked pointedly at her. He had asked her something, she could tell by the tone of his voice, but she couldn't figure out for the life of her what he had said. Tilting her head to the side she allowed her confusion to show on her face. He asked her again, this time slower.

**'He wants to know if it'd be alright if he came and sat with you.' **

'If he talks anymore while he's up here you have to translate for me.'

**'If I must.'**

'If you don't he'll think that we're slow or something.' She nodded to Yusuke who took a seat next to her. He began speaking with Aya translating for her companion and Heather would answer the way Aya told her to. They had talked a whole period before she felt Keiko storming back up to their location. She realized during their discussion that Yusuke wasn't such a bad character after all. It was just like the tree had told her. He was just a little rough around the edges.

"Yusuke get yourself back to class." Even though she hadn't understood the exact words the meaning was clear. Yusuke began complaining and Keiko grabbed him by the ear dragging him off. Heather chuckled at the couple. They were an odd pairing but they definitely were made for each other. Leaning back against the wall Heather relaxed until the final bell rang signaling the end of school. Those who had cram school hung out, littering the halls, while everyone else rushed out to escape the walls that had confined them since early that morning. Stretching as she exited the doors she sat back under her tree waiting patiently for her mother. Yusuke came storming out the door moments later followed by a flustered Keiko. She waved goodbye to them, Keiko waved back Yusuke just turned and looked away. After they were out of sight she tensed against the tree. She was now here without anyone she knew...with the exception of the tree. It must have felt her unease because it chose that time to speak with her.

_**'I see that your opinion about that boy has changed.'**_

'Only slightly. I really don't know what to think of him yet. He seems okay at times even though he's a brash individual, but I guess that he has some redeeming qualities as well. Can't think of any at the moment but I'm sure that he does.' She and the tree talked a little while more before her mother drove up. 'Thank you for your company. I'll see you tomorrow.' With that she headed to the car. Quickly getting in she smiled at her mother. The middle aged woman smiled back before merging into traffic and heading for the shrine.

"So how was school?" Her mother asked everyday. It seemed that she thought that her daughter wasn't adjusting well.

"It was very...interesting. I made a new, um, no, I met Keiko's boyfriend today."

"Oh and what is he like?"

"He's...well there's not really a word to describe him. At first glance he appears to be a vigilante but after getting to know him a little he seems like a pretty ok guy. To those he considers friends that is. I'd hate to get on his bad side." Heather turned to stare out the window. "How is grandma doing? Has she even come home yet?" She looked at her mother in the windows reflection. It seemed that the answer was in the negative.

"You know how your grandmother is. She has a habit of wandering and not coming back for a while. I'm sure she's fine." Heather nodded in agreement. The weeks that they had been there she had known that little could touch her grandmother. There wasn't much that the woman couldn't do. The woman tended to disappear for long periods of time though and Heather couldn't help but worry.

"Tomorrow is going to be a rather difficult day. My teachers want me to start writing in Japanese and I have two tests. My English test will be a breeze but I also have a Chemistry test that I can't afford to fail." She leaned her head against the window. "Why is it that I can't be home schooled again?" Her mother sighed from her spot in the driver's seat as they stopped for a red light.

"Because this is the easiest way for you to get used to the culture."

"Couldn't I just do what you're doing and walk places, get really lost, and force myself to figure out what things say?" She could feel her mother glaring at her. The light turned green and her mother took off again.

"That was an isolated incident and you know it. I went to the store to get food for dinner and got turned around. You know for as much as they tell us that the people here learn English I'm surprised at how little the people actually know."

"That's because they don't speak it all the time like we do. It's just like us, we can learn Japanese but if we don't use it constantly then it does us no good does it?" A comfortable silence fell over the car. The rest of the drive was quiet. When they finally reached the shrine her mother let her out at the stairs then drove off to park the car. Heather was positive that someone would kill themselves on the steps one of these days. There were just far too many of them. Starting the long walk up, her mind wandered to other things. The first thing was the demon the tree had mentioned. By the end of school she had regained enough of her energy to sense it. It was a fire apparition. Not a demon that she particularly wanted to mess with but if it came to that she would. That wasn't the weirdest thing about it though, it was a hybrid. Half fire half ice, a forbidden child in the world of demons. It must have had a difficult life. She thought back to her past life. She had been the child of a fox demon and a dog demon even though she didn't like to claim the dog half of her blood. Her father was a bastard and she thought very little of him after what he had done to her mother. Her life had been one of insults and humiliation. She had learned to fight her way through it. She became strong. Soon she was feared by those who had dared speak ill of her and her mother. Reaching the top of the stairs Heather was pulled from her thoughts by Keiko. Slightly surprised she approached the girl.

"Keiko what are you doing here?"

Genkai was seated on her couch sipping tea. Koenma had sent the Spirit Detective and gang to see her. They sat in her living room wondering why they had been called there in the first place. The woman had decided to let them settle themselves a bit before going into why they had been summoned.

"Well I don't see why I'm here in the first place." The fire apparition had been the most upset out of all of them even though, unlike the other members, he had kept his anger in check.

"Oh don't worry Hiei. It's nothing really horrible. Besides you're still on probation." A bubbly blue haired girl smiled at the little fire demon who she sat across from.

"Shut up Botan. Koenma probably has another mission for us and didn't want to tell us himself." Yusuke had been the one that had lost his temper and ended up breaking her door before Genkai had beat him over the head and forced him to fix it.

"Well I think that it's nice to see Genkai again. I haven't really seen here since the Rando incident." A boy with orange hair in a style that reminded her of someone that would be a member of the yakuza had spoken. Genkai smiled kindly at him. Although Kuwabara's appearance was one that would warrant such thoughts his personality and love for cats was not. He was a kind boy and the woman liked him, better then her student once you got right down to it. Yusuke was a loud mouth, pain in the butt, smart ass, trash talking-. Genkai sighed, the boy had good aspects too it's just that the bad tended to out shine the good.

"The tea is wonderful Genkai." She turned her attention and smiled to the red haired boy that sat next to her.

"Well thank you Kurama." Standing to her feet she was about to tell the boys why exactly they had come when the door to the room opened.

Keiko had stared at Heather for a good couple of minutes before she could finally speak.

"Um, well, you see...Yusuke's here to speak with Genkai." Heather digested the information for a moment. If Yusuke was there to see her grandmother that would have to mean that they knew each other.

"And you just had to come with him to make sure that he stays out of trouble." The girl in front of her blushed crimson and Heather laughed. Keiko was just too cute when it came to her relationship with Yusuke. "So what is it that they're talking about?" At this Keiko fidgeted and Heather paused to examine her closer. She was nervous about something and it obviously had to do with the conversation that was taking place inside the house as they spoke. Grabbing Keiko's hand she pulled the stammering girl inside. Motioning for her to be silent they stood outside the door to the living room and listened in. Heather took mental notes. 'Hiei his power signature is the same one from the tree this morning. Botan...her energy is very weird. I could place it in the same category as a demon but it's more then that. Of course there's Yusuke who definitely has some demonic energy floating around in there...wait I recognize that energy. That's Lord Raizen's aura! No way. That punk can't possibly be...I wonder if he knows yet?' Her train of thought was brought to a halt at the next voice. She stood there staring dumbfounded at the door. Sure the voice had changed but it was still like she had remembered. Not thinking about anything else Heather opened the door and hastily stepped into the room. All eyes turned to her. Realizing what she had just done Heather quickly apologized and backed out of the room. Nearly running into Keiko in her haste she made her way to her room. What was going on? Why were there demons in her grandmother's home? Especially a certain demon thief that she was not yet ready to run into again. If only she could find a way to avoid a confrontation. Reaching her room Heather hastily closed the door and lunged under her bed. Feeling around for a few minutes she finally retrieved her sketch pad. Climbing onto the bed she began to flip through it. She stopped at the page that she had been searching for. It showed a silver haired fox demon. She tenderly stroked the two dimensional ears of the figure. How she had loved those ears. A knock startled her out of her memories. Quickly hiding the book she stood and opened the door.

Genkai stood there looking at her granddaughter, the one who only moments ago had interrupted a very important discussion about a demon that the team believed was hiding somewhere in the human world. She looked very small standing there looking rather ashamed of herself.

"I'm sorry that I barged in grandma but...I thought I recognized someone...aside from Yusuke that is. I was mistaken though and apologize for my behavior once again." She looked at Genkai almost pleading the woman to forgive her.

"It's alright you just startled all of us. After we're done in the other room I'll introduce you to them. They usually spend a lot of time around here and its best that you get used to them sooner rather then later." 'Especially with the new demonic energy floating around.'

"Alright grandma. Is that all that you need then? I mean I know that you came to see what was up but is that all there is to it?" Genkai looked at the girl questioningly. Was it possible that she knew things beyond what they did? Had she sensed the energy? If so how? Was it possible that her own granddaughter had spiritual powers that she didn't know about? Genkai shook her head and sent those thoughts to the back of her mind. There was more pressing matters at hand however if she had a moment later she would grill her granddaughter.

"No there's nothing else. I'll be sending Keiko to the room. She tells me that you are having issues in school. I suggest that you study with her until we've finished." Heather nodded and went back to whatever it was she'd been doing as Genkai headed back to the main room. It seemed that while she was gone the boys had decided to voice their opinions on what they had experienced a few moments prior. It quieted down again as she entered the room.

While Genkai had been gone the boys had discussed what had transpired. The girl that had come to the door had startled them all.

"Hey! I know her." The others turned to Yusuke for clarification. "She's a transfer student at my school. Can't remember her name though. She's from America and started while we were gone on our last mission." They sat quietly for a minute digesting the information.

"What's she doing here I wonder?" Kurama had spoken the question out loud to see what the others thought.

"She looked nice." Kuwabara was in his own little world again. Hiei scoffed at him.

"Now that we've heard from the buffoon can we please get back to what Genkai had wanted to tell us? The girl is of no concern to us." When Kuwabara's brain registered exactly what Hiei had just said he stood from his seat to teach the little shrimp a lesson. It was at that time that Genkai appeared again.

"Settle down you ingrates." Kuwabara sat back down not wanting to anger the woman. "You've been called here so that I can inform you that recently there has been a demonic energy hanging around this part of the city. It has yet to be isolated but Koenma wants us to keep our eyes open for strange things."

"What kind of strange things?"

"Well Kuwabara," Botan chimed in, "it seems that there has been some weird things happening already. Hiei went to check out the tree at your school Yusuke. It seems that one of the main trees in front was radiating with the same demonic energy as the one that we've been feeling. He tried to find you to let you know but obviously that didn't happen. Also in a park not far from here there is a strange type of flower growing that isn't native to Japan. We have no idea where it came from, how it got there, or even how it continues to thrive and grow."

"What type of flower is it?"

"We don't know Kurama. That's why Koenma wants you guys to check it out. He says that he has a bad feeling about this." Botan went from being totally serious back to her bubbly personality in an instant. "So Genkai who was it that barged in on us earlier?"

Genkai had sat there in silent contemplation. All the things that were happening were happening for a reason. They all pointed right to the person, no the demon that was behind it all. Botan's question pulled her from her musings. "It was my granddaughter. She and her mother came to me about four weeks ago. She doesn't speak much Japanese yet. Keiko," the girl popped her head into the room with a small "yes", "could you please go and retrieve Heather so that she can properly meet with everyone?" With a nod Keiko was gone. A few moments later she and Heather returned to the room.

"You wanted to see me grandmother?"

"Yes I'd like to introduce you. This is Botan, Kurama, Hiei, Kuwabara and Yusuke. This is my granddaughter Heather." She pointed to each boy/girl respectably and when she finished Heather smiled.

"I've already met Yusukue but it's a pleasure to meet the rest of you." The boy with the orange hair, Kuwabara, was giving her a funny look telling her that he had not understood her. Hiei responded in a 'hn'.

"It is very nice to meet you." This had come from Kurama. Heather smiled at him. She knew that both he and Hiei would understand her but she was happily surprised to find that Kurama spoke English. All of a sudden Heather started to feel uneasy. They had all gotten together to meet for some reason or another. The only logical explanation though for all of the ones with demonic auras to be there would be if something demonic was going on. She'd have to speak to her mother about not going out anywhere without her. The uneasy feeling turned into uncomfortable as the room grew relatively silent. Feeling the need to escape Heather quickly excused herself, saying that she was once again happy to meet all of them, and made a mad dash for her room. Once safely inside she thought through what was going on.

"There is obviously something demonic here. The real question is, is it something that we can handle?"

**'You worry WAY too much. I'm sure that there is another perfectly simple and reasonable explanation for all of this.'**

"The main question that I have is what does grandma have to do with it and how much does she know?"

"I would like to ask you the same question." Heather shrieked and jumped across the room falling instinctively into a fighting stance at the intrusion. There in the doorway stood her grandmother. Relaxing out of her stance Heather motioned for the woman to come in. She did so shutting the door behind her. "So you do know something about what is going on don't you?" Operating on instinct a wonderful lie formed in her head. There was no need to tell her grandmother the truth until she knew if she could fully trust her or not.

"I...I've been sensing something. I haven't told you because I didn't know how you would react but I can sense things like spiritual energy, demonic energy, and the like. I know that a few of those boys that you had in your den are demons or at least have demonic energy. I...The energy is...strange." Her grandmother motioned for her to follow her. They made their way back to the den. Sitting on the couch next to Kuwabara Heather saw Genkai smile at her. The occupants of the room were shocked to see her back.

"Alright by a show of hands how many of you have felt the strange aura around here." Heather raised her hand immediately but a quick scan of the room and no other hands made her put hers back down.

**'You have just given something away you realize.'**

'I can fix it. I wasn't expecting that no one else had felt our energy. Someone else must have or else we wouldn't be having this discussion...unless they aren't talking about ours.' The thought hadn't occurred to her until that precise moment. What if they hadn't been talking about her at all? There could very well be another demon floating around somewhere that she hadn't sensed and they had. She made a mental note to cut off her hand.

**'I think that, that would be rather painful.'**

'Yes but it's only what I deserve after what I have just done.'

'**I use that hand to you know. Find another way to punish yourself. We need that hand.'** Heather chuckled softly at her companion realizing a little too late that the demons in the room would hear. Sure enough Hiei was giving her a weird look. She smiled at him to cover her embarrassment.

"So granddaughter would you like to share with us what you have felt?" Heather winced and glancing around the room decided to be a coward.

"Not really. I'm not actually one hundred percent sure what it was that I felt."


End file.
